Happy Feet in Orkney

LEAH SEATOR reports on the first-ever Orkney Dance Festival.

IT CAME AND WENT like a whirlwind, bringing 100 visitors waltzing into the county, and 100 locals stepping out of their homes.  Organisers of the first ever annual Orkney Dance Festival enjoyed more success over the weekend than anyone could have predicted.

Every class and workshop was packed out, and every evening event or festival club meeting turned into a full scale hoolie.  The festival may have finished, but it has left something behind for dance fans in Orkney, who learned new skills, met new people, and will continue dancing until the next festival comes around.

In turn, many of the visitors were mesmerised by Orkney and the calibre of the county’s venues and hospitality, as well as being intrigued by the local dances. Everything was covered, from Orkney dance to Flamenco, Shetland dance to Arabic belly dance.

The festival ran from 25-28 March, and was organised by Rob Corcoran, from Northbeat, in Skye, with massive support from local dance groups and other organisations. Northbeat is an organisation designed to promote dance and music in Scotland, and has organised a similar festival on Skye, the Island Fling, for several years.
 

Rob was delighted with how the Orkney festival had run, and plans to make it bigger and better for next year. He explained: “We had run a successful event on Skye and we couldn’t have the event there this Easter. We took a straw-poll on where we could possibly have it, and as we had about ten Orcadian guests there, Orkney came out quite strongly in the poll!”

“The highlights for Rob included a ‘Papa Stour’ sword dancing performance by Maureen Findlay, the only local instructor involved with the festival, and some young Highland dancers.”

Rob admitted that although he thought the festival would be a hit, he never expected the scale of the success.  “It was definitely a bigger success than we expected. The general feeling from both visitors and the local residents has been one of considerable enthusiasm for the festival. I feel really good about it. We obviously got something right.”
 

He felt that Orkney was the perfect setting for the festival: “It has enthusiastic dancers who welcome others into their community. It has excellent venues and it’s very much down to this local enthusiasm for dance that it has been such a success. NorthLink Ferries provided an all-in-one package for visitors, and that made it far easier for us to bring people up. They made an attractive package, so that people didn’t think Orkney was too expensive to get to.”

The belly dancing and flamenco classes were very popular according to Rob, who tried to bring as much variety to the festival as he could.  He said it had given people a taste of something different, but unfortunately it is something that isn’t available for Orcadians to take up full time.  “Those classes had between 20 and 40-plus people in them. Local people taking part did express considerable interest, but don’t ask me how we satisfy that need. I don’t live here and can’t bring tutors up here full time.”

The highlights for Rob included a ‘Papa Stour’ sword dancing performance by Maureen Findlay, the only local instructor involved with the festival, and some young Highland dancers. The other seven tutors were from south, including acclaimed names such as Jessie Stewart and Maria Leask. Rob had also organised a band, the Island Fling Band, to provide the music for most of the classes and evening events.

“She described the whole weekend as a magical experience that won’t be forgotten.”

Rob was grateful to members of the Orkney Traditional Dance Association for their support.  He said: “There’s been considerable support from the members of the Orkney Traditional Dance Association. I must name Lana Fotheringhame in particular, as her support was invaluable. It was great to have such a success with the first event and we’re looking forward to expanding it in 2006.”
 

Mabel Besant, the Secretary of the Orkney Traditional Dance Association, was delighted with how the festival had gone, and can’t wait until next year. Mabel saw the festival as a great opportunity for Orkney to shine with so many visitors taking part.  “It showed the folk who came in to Orkney how much dance there is here.” 

Her highlights also included the sword dancing, although she said that there were too many to mention: “At the end of the session on Sunday night, each workshop put forward some of the people who had done things at their classes. It was fantastic seeing the other types of dance.  The Papa Stour Sword Dancing brought a lump to my throat. It was amazing. In the end the swords were all intertwined, and shaped like a star. The local bairns were really fantastic.”
 

She felt she had definitely learnt something from the festival that she can take to her dance teaching in Orkney. “There was so much of it that you couldn’t take it all in at once! It wasn’t until I taught at my own class on Monday night that I realised that I had absorbed a lot of it.”

She described the whole weekend as a magical experience that won’t be forgotten.  “It was such a good atmosphere. There was also story telling, with Neil Leask at the festival club, and I don’t know if some of the visitors understood all of his dialect, but they certainly enjoyed it.
 

“There were friendships made through our common interest. The visitors were very impressed with the facilities that we have here, such as the Town Hall, King Street Halls, and the St. Magnus Centre. Everybody’s looking forward to the next one.”

© Leah Seator, 2005